Wednesday, June 30, 2010

A Bit of Lace Refined Hemp Summer Scarf in Slate and Lilac and she won a $10.00 Gift Certificate toward any item in my Esty Shop!
The Lacey body is done in a Smokey Slate Gray hemp yarn, the Blossom edging is in Lovely Lilac lace weight hemp yarn.

Thank you to all who entered! I will be announcing July's Giveaway Soon!

Saying to "No" Plastic has become a newer mission. Why?
Well, our demand for plastic drives up the demand for oil, as does our demand for any and all petroleum products.

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
Reduce. If I reduce my plastic consumption considerably by no longer using plastic in the produce section, how does this effect my dependence on Petroleum? How about if I can considerably cut my plastic usage for all my food and household needs? Maybe one person doing this isn't such a big deal.

So now, I dedicate myself to making an available alternative to plastic in the produce section that is all natural reuseable, light weight, stashable, washable, easy to use, handmade and made from an earth friendly product. Don't get me wrong there are some other wonderful alternatives out there.

Are these bags perfect? Or are they a solve all?
No, you are going to have to remember to bring them with you shopping, ask the cashier to subtract the "tare weight" (Tare weight is the weight of the bag or container when empty. It's usually a legal requirement for stores to subtract the weight of the empty container when weighing your produce or bulk purchase.) at the check out, wash them, and then remember to have them ready again for next time.

Frankly, it sounds like a pain, right?

Not any more painful than our increasing dependence on Petroleum products, and we are all pretty aware what effect that is having on the Planet, wildlife, our economies, politics (WAR), and the future as a whole. What are we leaving our children and our children's children? What is happening to the health of our wildlife, including many fragile eco systems and that of our Food?

Truth is, we can all learn to make small changes everyday that add up to a big change in the end. I think we are worth it.
"Nothing in life worth doing is easy."

I am not asking you to purchase my bags, or even other alternative bags available. I am only asking you to consider the effects your dependence on plastic and petroleum products has on our World.
Let's start reducing our Plastic/Petroleum dependence today, to make for a healthier tomorrow.

You should be able to get 1 Larger envelope and at least 2 small envelopes from a standard Brown Paper Bag from the Grocery Store.

Take your Brown Paper Bag and Unfold it. Rather than marking with a pen you will be using the folds in the bag as your cutting lines.

Lay your bag on one of its sides and carefully following
the fold lines on the side cut out the side only, leaving the
bottom intact. Repeat for the opposite side.

You will have something that looks like this.

Now lay the Long piece flat, and keeping what was the bottom of the bag against your work surface, i will be referring to this as the "back" throughout this Tutorial. (I had to use a smaller piece in order to fit it into the picture, but the theory is the same).......

................fold up the front as shown,leaving a 2.5 cm (1") flap on the top of the back piece.
Fold the back piece at the top over the front, making the fold line up with the top front piece.........

..................Open up your piece of paper, working along the sides
and fold a 2.5 cm (1") Flap on each side.

With the piece facing you vertically. Following the folds you made earlier

............you will now need to carefully cut along the sides only up the the first fold, ( this fold separates the front from the back of the envelope. Trim 2.5 cm (1") strip on each side of the bag as shown.

Open up you piece and turn your bag so the Top flap is facing you. You will now need to cut the corner off on each side as shown.

Now is a great time to apply some white glue
to what was the bottom of the bag to reinforce
the folds there.

Fold the top flap up over the back piece.

IT"S GLUING TIME!!!
Put a nice line of glue on each side flap. Spread the glue carefully with your brush.

Now fold up the side flaps and press firmly into place.

TTTAAADDDDDAAA!!!!
Let your envelopes dry over night! I prefer to seal the tops with some packing tape as I pack my with envelopes with materials such as fabrics or crocheted items.

Decorate with stamps, markers or however you see fit. :)

Just some notes: I don't often like to use Bubble envelopes, but I think you could easily glue in some pieces of bubble wrap before gluing the sides down. I also thought you could buy some Craft Paper that I have seen in the Post office and use this to make envelopes, should you prefer to. I hope that you enjoyed my Tutorial, this is my first. If you have any questions or comments please post them here and I will gladly answer them.